Posted: March 20, 2023
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes May 4, 2023
CJA01-0205. Standing and ad hoc committees (AMEND). Adds members to the Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on Fairness and Accountability.
CJA03-0117. Committee on Court Forms (AMEND). Acknowledges the Committee’s responsibility to review existing forms and assess the need for new court forms, adds new form requirements, including user-testing where practicable, and removes the requirement that the General Counsel conduct a legal review of every form prior to committee approval.
CJA03-0406. Budget and fiscal management (AMEND). Incorporates the role of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee and makes other improvements to clarify the judiciary’s budget process.
Posted: February 28, 2023
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes April 14, 2023
CJA06-0507. Court visitors (AMEND). The proposed amendments replace “protected person” and “ward” with “respondent” where applicable; clarify who may receive a court visitor report or notice; require court visitors to use a Council-approved Order on Review form; and provide the court with broad discretion in taking action on a court visitor report. Language access requirements are addressed elsewhere in the Code of Judicial Administration.
CJA03-0414. Court security (AMEND). The proposed amendments require officers in plain clothes to wear something that identifies them as law enforcement; require officers to use a duty-type holster with a user-operated restraining device if a firearm is visible; clarify who is allowed to carry firearms in courthouses; and otherwise clean up or streamline the rule.
Posted: February 23, 2023
Rules of Professional Conduct – Comment Period Closes April 9, 2023
RPC07.01. Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 7.1 prohibit direct solicitation of a potential client for the purpose of obtaining professional employment. For conduct of nonlawyers acting on behalf of lawyers, see Rule 5.3.
Posted: February 17, 2023
Rules of Civil Procedure – Comment Period Closes April 3, 2023
URCP010. Form of pleadings and other papers. Amend. The Committee proposes to amend subparagraph (d) of this rule to modify the top margin from 1½ inches to 1 inch, like the right, left, and bottom margins. The reason for the wider margin at the top was to allow filing of paper copies in a folder with top hole punches. With electronic filing, this extra space at the top is no longer needed.
URCP100A. Case Management of Domestic Relations Actions. Amend. The Committee proposes to amend subparagraph (a) to exempt actions initiated by the Office of Recovery Services from this Rule. ORS reports that because its actions usually require service on more than one party, it often happens that one of them will be served and file an answer, prompting a case management conference to be set. The setting will often be premature because the other party has not yet been served or has not yet responded. In other cases a case management conference is unnecessary because the responding parties agree with ORS’s pleading.
Posted: February 7, 2023
Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 24, 2023
URCrP002. Time. Amend. The Rule is amended to adjust how time is computed following the adoption of Juneteenth as a state holiday.
Posted: February 6, 2023
Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 23, 2023
URCrP008. Appointment of counsel. Amend. The Supreme Court has requested an additional round of public comment to Rule 8. The current proposal changes the process of securing a waiver of the right to counsel and the appointment of counsel in capital cases.
Posted: January 19, 2023
Rules of Civil Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 5, 2023
URCP004. Process. AMEND. The Committee proposes an amendment to subparagraph (d)(1)(D), similar to the amendment proposed by Judge Orme in Jordan Credit Union v. Sullivan, 2022 UT App 120, ¶ 18 (Orme, J., concurring), in order to allow for personal service of process on an incarcerated person.
URCP007. Pleadings allowed; motions, memoranda, hearings, orders. AMEND. The Committee proposes adding two motions to the subparagraph (l)(1) list of motions that a court may decide without awaiting a response. First, the Committee proposes adding a motion to strike a document filed by a vexatious litigant in violation of Rule 83(d). Where a vexatious litigant makes an improper filing, it is not presently clear whether an opposing party must proceed under Rule 7A’s procedures for enforcing the vexatious litigant order. Requiring the opposing party to do so would involve full briefing and considerable delay, contrary to the purpose of filing restrictions imposed under Rule 83. Second, the Committee proposes adding a motion to appear remotely.
URCP083. Vexatious Litigants. AMEND. The Committee proposes amending subparagraphs (b)(4) and (d)(1) to allow vexatious litigants to file a notice of appeal without first getting approval from the trial judge. Where a trial court imposes filing restrictions on a vexatious litigant, sometimes court clerks have refused attempts by the litigant to file a notice of appeal. This can create uncertainty in some cases as to whether an appellate court has jurisdiction over an appeal because the documentary evidence of a timely appeal is missing. The amendments would make it clear that the trial court may not erect barriers to the filing of a notice of appeal. The Committee also proposes amending subparagraphs (b)(4), (b)(5), and (d)(1) to change “leave of the court” to “permission of the court” to make the language more understandable to self-represented litigants.
Posted: January 18, 2023
Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 4, 2023
URJP018. Summons; service of process; notice. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 18 include: (1) adding language that requires a bilingual notice in abuse, neglect, dependency, and termination of parental rights cases; (2) adding a subsection to 18(a)(2) to include termination of parental rights cases; and, (3) replacing the language “shall” with “must,” “will,” or “is” to conform with the Utah Supreme Court stylistic guidelines.
Posted: January 17, 2023
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes March 3, 2023
CJA03-0403. Judicial branch education (AMEND). Proposed amendments require judicial officers and court employees to complete annual training on harassment and abusive conduct, ethics, inclusion, and elimination of bias. Other amendments are intended to streamline the rule and reflect current onboarding and orientation practices.